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Tim Carter’s days as Hannibal’s fire chief likely are numbered, but his future with the department is not as predictable.
The Fire Board meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, and Chairman Barry Louderman confirmed there would be a closed session to discuss personnel.
Louderman declined to say whether the matter involved Carter, whose appointment as chief expires Sept. 22.
Carter said he’s been told he won’t be reappointed to the job he’s held for four years.
But a controversy that dates at least to November 2009 has left Carter in limbo and has raised questions about how the city will proceed.
“I’m not looking to settle,” Carter said Monday. “I’m looking to resolve. What’s right is right.”
The Fire Board suspended Carter on Nov. 5, 2009. The reasons never were made public, but sources have told the Courier-Post that the allegations closely followed impeachment charges that were filed by Louderman and then-Councilman Jason Janes three months later.
Janes did not seek re-election in April 2010, and Louderman withdrew the charges without specific explanation in July. Last month, the Fire Board let Carter tell his side of the story.
Carter was accused in the impeachment of acting unprofessionally and being derelict in his duties for alleged fraud, dishonesty, insubordination and oppression of others in the department.
The allegations, which Carter refuted, dealt mostly with his purported actions on asbestos removal at Fire Station 3 and a former television studio that was being converted to a Fire Department administrative office. Carter also was accused of not following Fire Board directives.
The city charter allows Carter to remain with the fire department, but it doesn’t specify at what level.
Carter said Monday that he would accept a job other than chief, but indicated such an appointment would not settle the issue.
“I don’t want to be hurt by something I perceive as being bogus and malicious,” said Carter, who was a deputy chief before taking the top job. “Why should I forfeit my (pay and benefits) for that?”
Another question surrounds Carter’s request for an administrative hearing on the Fire Board’s November suspension.
The hearing was delayed by the impeachment, but has not been rescheduled in the two months since the charges were dropped.
City Attorney James F. Lemon said Monday that the hearing likely would be “mute” if Carter was not reappointed chief.
Lemon said Carter would have “no further administrative remedy” if his reappointment date passed without a hearing. Carter could sue the city, but has not discussed such plans.
“It is their right not to reappoint me, but it is my right to remain on the fire department,” Carter said.
There’s also the question of who would serve as chief if Carter is not reappointed. Bill Madore is the acting chief, but Carter said Monday that he would retain the top title until the Fire Board formally appoints a successor.
A final question surrounds Carter’s paid administrative leave. He has been getting more than $5,700 a month in salary plus benefits since the suspension last November.
Terms of the leave call for Carter to be paid through Dec. 1, then resign and receive a full pension starting two years later.
Carter said “there was no discussion of solutions” at the Fire Board session in August and that he remains “baffled” by the lack of answers from the city.
Louderman declined to discuss specifics, but said he was trying to “keep (the case) from being a personal thing.”
“That’s part of the reason we didn’t go ahead with the impeachment,” Louderman said. “When it got to be that way, it was unfair for him and us.”
Tim Carter’s days as Hannibal’s fire chief likely are numbered, but his future with the department is not as predictable.
The Fire Board meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, and Chairman Barry Louderman confirmed there would be a closed session to discuss personnel.
Louderman declined to say whether the matter involved Carter, whose appointment as chief expires Sept. 22.
Carter said he’s been told he won’t be reappointed to the job he’s held for four years.
But a controversy that dates at least to November 2009 has left Carter in limbo and has raised questions about how the city will proceed.
“I’m not looking to settle,” Carter said Monday. “I’m looking to resolve. What’s right is right.”
The Fire Board suspended Carter on Nov. 5, 2009. The reasons never were made public, but sources have told the Courier-Post that the allegations closely followed impeachment charges that were filed by Louderman and then-Councilman Jason Janes three months later.
Janes did not seek re-election in April 2010, and Louderman withdrew the charges without specific explanation in July. Last month, the Fire Board let Carter tell his side of the story.
Carter was accused in the impeachment of acting unprofessionally and being derelict in his duties for alleged fraud, dishonesty, insubordination and oppression of others in the department.
The allegations, which Carter refuted, dealt mostly with his purported actions on asbestos removal at Fire Station 3 and a former television studio that was being converted to a Fire Department administrative office. Carter also was accused of not following Fire Board directives.
The city charter allows Carter to remain with the fire department, but it doesn’t specify at what level.
Carter said Monday that he would accept a job other than chief, but indicated such an appointment would not settle the issue.
“I don’t want to be hurt by something I perceive as being bogus and malicious,” said Carter, who was a deputy chief before taking the top job. “Why should I forfeit my (pay and benefits) for that?”
Another question surrounds Carter’s request for an administrative hearing on the Fire Board’s November suspension.
The hearing was delayed by the impeachment, but has not been rescheduled in the two months since the charges were dropped.
City Attorney James F. Lemon said Monday that the hearing likely would be “mute” if Carter was not reappointed chief.
Lemon said Carter would have “no further administrative remedy” if his reappointment date passed without a hearing. Carter could sue the city, but has not discussed such plans.
“It is their right not to reappoint me, but it is my right to remain on the fire department,” Carter said.
There’s also the question of who would serve as chief if Carter is not reappointed. Bill Madore is the acting chief, but Carter said Monday that he would retain the top title until the Fire Board formally appoints a successor.
A final question surrounds Carter’s paid administrative leave. He has been getting more than $5,700 a month in salary plus benefits since the suspension last November.
Terms of the leave call for Carter to be paid through Dec. 1, then resign and receive a full pension starting two years later.
Carter said “there was no discussion of solutions” at the Fire Board session in August and that he remains “baffled” by the lack of answers from the city.
Louderman declined to discuss specifics, but said he was trying to “keep (the case) from being a personal thing.”
“That’s part of the reason we didn’t go ahead with the impeachment,” Louderman said. “When it got to be that way, it was unfair for him and us.”
